"Six Feet Under" Marathon (posted 4/3/06)

I spent a majority of Friday and Saturday evening glued to my tv, watching the final season of the most phenomenal show ever and my favorite drama: "Six Feet Under." It is one of the few shows that once I start watching, I cannot stop. There are few shows that can successfully pull off an intricate, meaningful storyline chocked to the brim of elements that truly demonstrate many facets of the human condition. These include love, compassion, humor, anger, sexuality, grief, fantasy/dreams, belonging, escapism, death/mortality, birth, regrets, fear, and hope. Wow! No wonder tears would occasionally well up in my eyes. I may be a sensitive individual, however, I'm not one to cry/get emotionally involved with a tv show/movie very easily. It is the overall stirring of various emotions that gets to me. When you feel like you're right there with the character, thinking and feeling as they do or relating to him/her in some way from something similar you have experienced in your own life....

One of my favorite characters dies in the third to very last episode. I won't say who, for those of you who have not seen it yet. I don't want to ruin it for you. I was in utter shock, but also impressed by the realism. SFU does not sugar coat anything. What you see is what you get, especially in depictions of death and how we grieve.

I've always had a peculiar fascination with death, ever since I took a "Studies in Death and Dying" psychology class my sophomore year in undergrad. Reflecting back, I still regard it as one of the most life-enhancing classes I have ever taken. I had to write my own obituary and contemplate controversial issues most people find ways to avoid discussing, let alone even think about. Why is death so private and morbid? We all do it eventually.

One would think that maybe by embracing thoughts and feelings on both life and death, one would then be liberated to a more meaningful and "seize the day" kind of existence. I had this dialogue with one of my clients this morning, as a matter of fact in our counseling session. I framed it in a positive way, however, my client just went on to say "But I'm lazy." I guess it all comes down to our overall outlook on life....